Looking for clean, articulate tones - neck humbucker in a Tele - your thoughts?

[DHart]

Hey folks, I'm shopping for another humbucker neck pickup for a Tele. (And a bridge twin-rail, as well.)

I have a pair of Gibson Classic '57s (modded with A5 magnets for extra sparkle) in a Tele HH and I love those tones! They are rich, full, round and also have a bright sparkle too!

I have a Dimarzio PAF Master (modded with an A2 magnet to tame unacceptably harsh trebles) in another Tele, neck position. Now that I have the A2 magnet in the pickup, I'm pretty ok with it, though it's not exactly my favorite.

And now I'm looking for another humbucker for the neck position in a new Tele build.

I've been considering the Duncan 59, the Pearly Gates, Whole Lotta Humbucker, and Custom Custom.

The most important ingredient for me is, I like rich, articulate, clean tones. Think Eric Johnson-ish. Heavy overdriven tones aren't my thing.

Of those that I mentioned, the 59 is probably the most articulate of them, but perhaps I might like the tones of one of the others - as long as they can do clean really well?

Any thoughts on what I might go with?

And as for the bridge position in the Tele, I want a twin-rail style humbucker that has a rich, full-bodied tone, not something super trebly and ice-picky.

Any thoughts on that pickup choice?

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: Looking for clean, articulate tones - neck humbucker in a Tele - your thoughts?

Seth Lover.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Looking for clean, articulate tones - neck humbucker in a Tele - your thoughts?

As per the MLP thread......minihumbucker kills any full-sized humbucker for articulation in the neck slot.

 

[Gtrjunior]

Re: Looking for clean, articulate tones - neck humbucker in a Tele - your thoughts?

If I’m not mistaken Dimarzio has an Eric Johnson signature set.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Looking for clean, articulate tones - neck humbucker in a Tele - your thoughts?

If I’m not mistaken Dimarzio has an Eric Johnson signature set.

Yup. If I remember correctly, those Dimarzios are made to get a Gretsch sound out of a LP. If that is the case, I'd use the EJ humbucker, or a TV Jones TV 'tron in that tele. I have a Magnatron and a Classic Plus 'tron in my Epi Sheraton and they kill for cleans. Eich and sparkly with subdued low end.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Looking for clean, articulate tones - neck humbucker in a Tele - your thoughts?

Check out the Seth Lover, Antiquity, 59, and Jazz for the neck (clean, articulate).
As far as the bridge twin rail, I am guessing you might not want it to sound particularly Tele-ish, is that right?

 

[DHart]

Re: Looking for clean, articulate tones - neck humbucker in a Tele - your thoughts?

Check out the Seth Lover, Antiquity, 59, and Jazz for the neck (clean, articulate).
As far as the bridge twin rail, I am guessing you might not want it to sound particularly Tele-ish, is that right?

Yes, my friend, you are correct. I have six Teles, so I want them all to be different. One or two that sound like a Tele is enough for me. :eek5:

Last night I spent a lot of time listening to clips on the Seymore Duncan site and decided the risk was very low to go ahead and order a Duncan SH-1 59 neck pickup. I will likely order a Little '59 Tele bridge pickup to go with it. Duncan's exchange program makes it a relatively risk-free tack to check out.

For the other build, I decided to go with something very different than all my other Teles and Strats have - high output twin rails! I understand they can do a clean sound very nicely, but they also offer some great grunt, for those times when I want a thick bluesy over driven tone. So, I ordered a set of Duncan Hot Rails! :firedevil

I'm really looking forward to seeing what tones I can get out of those Hot Rails. I've got clean, classic, articulate, low-wind, and vintage tones covered heavily with most of my (22) other guitars, so..... this will be a fun rocker, and a nice departure for me!

And nice that they're noiseless, as my home studio setup, where I usually play, write, practice, and record, has a big Apple display that causes a lot of hum with my single coils.

No hum problems with these Gibson Classic '57s, though; they sound rich, clear, and great (and with the A5 magnets I put in them, sparkle in the highs, too.)

 

[jeremy]

Re: Looking for clean, articulate tones - neck humbucker in a Tele - your thoughts?

i have an antiquity II firebird pup in the neck of a tele and it is everything a tele neck pup should be

 

[DHart]

Re: Looking for clean, articulate tones - neck humbucker in a Tele - your thoughts?

Yup. If I remember correctly, those Dimarzios are made to get a Gretsch sound out of a LP. If that is the case, I'd use the EJ humbucker, or a TV Jones TV 'tron in that tele. I have a Magnatron and a Classic Plus 'tron in my Epi Sheraton and they kill for cleans. Eich and sparkly with subdued low end.

I have been considering an EJ neck pickup for a while now. I may just need to order one and try it as a substitute for the PAF Master in my Mystic Red Tele. The Dimarzio PAF Master sounds pretty good now (not harsh in the highs since I put the A2 magnet in it), but I think I can find something I like even better. The PAF Masters sound good in my LP Standard, but in the bright Tele, the one I installed was harshly over the top bright with its A5 magnet. The A2 mag made a nice difference in rounding off the highs of that pickup.

 

[Thundermtn]

Re: Looking for clean, articulate tones - neck humbucker in a Tele - your thoughts?

I have a Seth in the neck of my Tele, my favorite clean tone I've ever heard.

It started out NOT my Tele and after I heard it I made it a point to someday own that guitar.

 

[SAguitar]

Re: Looking for clean, articulate tones - neck humbucker in a Tele - your thoughts?

Here's an off-brand suggestion! I put a set of GFS Hot Nashville Retrotrons in an HH Tele, and it is now one of my favorite guitars. It does the clean and articulate thing almost too well.

 

[DHart]

Re: Looking for clean, articulate tones - neck humbucker in a Tele - your thoughts?

I have to say, I sure loves me a clean and sparkly humbucker in the neck position of a Tele. Quite possibly my MOST favorite guitar set up of all, over Strats, Les Pauls, SGs, etc.

 

[DHart]

Re: Looking for clean, articulate tones - neck humbucker in a Tele - your thoughts?

I have a Seth in the neck of my Tele, my favorite clean tone I've ever heard.

It started out NOT my Tele and after I heard it I made it a point to someday own that guitar.

Nice! Isn't it wonderful to enjoy that!

I think the Duncan 59 sounds quite a bit like a Seth - I'm really looking forward to hearing the '59, that I just ordered, in the neck of my upcoming Tele build!

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Looking for clean, articulate tones - neck humbucker in a Tele - your thoughts?

Nice! Isn't it wonderful to enjoy that!

I think the Duncan 59 sounds quite a bit like a Seth - I'm really looking forward to hearing the '59, that I just ordered, in the neck of my upcoming Tele build!

IDK, I hear a lot more bass out of the 59 than I do out of the Seth in the neck. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but its there.

 

[chadd]

Re: Looking for clean, articulate tones - neck humbucker in a Tele - your thoughts?

Antiquity mini would be my first pick, Seth if you really want to go full humbucker

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Looking for clean, articulate tones - neck humbucker in a Tele - your thoughts?

Sounds like you have a plan, but wanted to second the mini and firebirds... Hard to beat for clean articulate, although they are rather different sounds.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: Looking for clean, articulate tones - neck humbucker in a Tele - your thoughts?

I agree with thinking about mini/'bird pickups, a PAF format humbucker is not what I think of when I think of clean/articulate (even if some pull it off.) I might prefer a Jazz over a '59 to those ends.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Looking for clean, articulate tones - neck humbucker in a Tele - your thoughts?

It's funny you mentioned Eric Johnson, because up to that point reading your post, I was going to suggest an EJ Custom bridge humbucker for your neck position on the Tele. They are a humbucker for people who aren't really after a classic humbucker tone, but who want something a bit more like a mini-humbucker. DiMarzio has a couple great pickups with a humbucker form factor, but different tone: Bluesbucker, Humbucker From Hell, EJ Custom. They are all killer. EJ is the most like what you are looking for, though.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Looking for clean, articulate tones - neck humbucker in a Tele - your thoughts?

Mini

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Looking for clean, articulate tones - neck humbucker in a Tele - your thoughts?

Definitely should look into the Bill Lawrence (Wilde) L500C for the neck and L45TL in the Bridge. Amazing clarity with superb articulation!

I have these in several guitars, including a Tele (with the L45S in the neck.) I love SD pickups but when it comes to clear articulate tone, Bill Lawrence is where it’s at, IMO.